Health and Indigenous Affairs Correspondent

"Predicting a large increase in the demand for aged care by this group" ... Mark Butler. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

The baby boomers that came out of the closet in the 60s and 70s will increasingly be moving out of their homes and into aged care facilities over the coming years.

As tens of thousands of Australian gays go grey, the nation's aged care industry is being urged to get ready.

Federal Minister for Ageing Mark Butler will on Thursday release a national strategy aimed at ensuring gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians are well cared for when they can no longer care for themselves.

''We are predicting a large increase in the demand for aged care by this group and we need to be in a position to respond to their needs,'' Mr Butler said.

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Corey Irlam of the National LGBTI health alliance said many gay people had faced a lifetime of discrimination – homosexuality remained a jailable offence in Tasmania until 1997 – and feared further persecution when they entered aged care.

''This results in them doing such things as not disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity and feeling uncomfortable about expressing affection in a public environment for fear of unfavourable treatment,'' Mr Irlam said.

Under the strategy, $2.5 million will be committed to sensitivity training for aged care workers.

Mr Irlam said the aged care workforce was diverse and some workers had not interacted with gays or lesbians before.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex Australians are thought to represent up to 11 per cent of the national population. While it is not known how many of these people will need aged care in coming years, Mr Irlam said gay people were likely to be more visible in aged care in the future, because baby boomers had tended to be more open about their sexuality than the cohort of Australians in aged care today.

Mr Butler will also launch a separate strategy to meet the aged care needs of people from non-English speaking backgrounds, including measures to encourage the employment of bilingual staff.

''In many cases, the onset of dementia causes older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to forget English and revert to their first language. Clearly that is a unique challenge for the person affected, for families and for the aged care provider,'' Mr Butler said.